French police have evacuated about
1,600 migrants from two camps in northern Paris, in one of the biggest
clearance operations in years.
Some 600 police officers escorted the migrants to coaches to take them to reception centres in the Paris area. The move comes a day after the government unveiled a series of measures to curb immigration.
Many of the migrants, who included families with children, are from Afghanistan or sub-Saharan Africa.
The operation began in pouring rain at around 06:00 (05:00 GMT) near the Porte de la Chapelle.
The two makeshift camps, made up of tarpaulin shelters and tents, were located under the flyovers of the Boulevard Périphérique, the ring road that runs around the capital.
They are among a number of camps to emerge around the city in the last few years.
Awa, a 32-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast, said she had been sleeping in a tent at Porte de la Chapelle since she arrived in France a year ago.
"It's raining, it's cold. I don't know where I will go, but I'm glad to go because I will have a roof over my head tonight," she told AFP news agency.
France is one of many European countries to struggle with its response to an influx of irregular migrants and the government is under pressure to react to the political challenge from the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.
